Job Abandonment?

jamiek · January 2004

I have an employee who called her supervisor at home last Monday to say that she would be going to Texas because her boyfriend's mom is very ill and that she would be back in a couple of weeks. She said that she would call back the next day to talk to her supervisor more about it. We have yet to hear from her. If she does not call this week or show up next week, can we terminate her? Any advice is greatly appreciated. Thank you.

Parabeagle · January 2004

Depends on your policy. Do you have a policy that covers no call/no show situations? For example, in our company we consider an employee who has not called or shown up for work for three consecutive days to have voluntarily resigned and we process the termination accordingly. I see no reason why you should wait any longer on this individual if you have a similar policy. Even if you don't have a policy, a week is a long time to not communicate with your employer and I would think that she has abandoned her job.

Jaded · January 2004

We have an attendance policy that addresses "no-call, no shows". After 3 days, they are terminated. Do you have a written policy that addresses the situation?

How did the supervisor respond when she called him or her? Do your supervisors have the authority to grant unpaid leaves of absence?

If she thought the supervisor approved the absence, she may not think her job is in jeopardy. At our company, the supervisor would have either approved the leave (and filled out proper form and submitted to HR) or disapproved it and told her to call HR the next morning.

Whatever · January 2004

The key here is what the supervisor said. If the supervisor stated or inferred that the ee's job was safe, you may have a problem. However, if she was going to call her supervisor and didn't, I would treat it as an abandonment and follow normal procedures (in our case, after 3 days of no-show, no call).

Pork · January 2004

JAMIEK: First, welcome to the forum! You'll find a lot of experience and wisdom on this net, it is the best, plus you'll get some fine and worthy words on which to act. We individually do not have all of the answers, but collectively, there is no lack of a willness to share so that you are not totally alone!

From the prior postings you can read "follow your policy"! I concur, but I also jump to FMLA and the ee's qualification potential as an issue depending on her reasoning for a sudden departure, a boyfriend"s relative certainly does not fit! What is her performance issues, if she is, otherwise, a good employee, you may be able to put her on a special leave of absence w/o pay; you may wish not to terminate until you can resolve all legal issues. Previously posted, is the most critical item: "WHAT DID THE SUPERVISOR SAY, AND ARE THERE ANY WITNESSES TO THEIR CONVERSATION?" Jump on this and get his and any witness written statements, before the issue becomes cold and forgotten!

AGAIN WELCOME!

PORK

Rockie · January 2004

We also have a three day, no-call no show policy. Sounds to me like the employee just called and "told" the supervisor what she was going to do rather than going through proper channels. If you have a policy in place that this needs to be approved, then I would follow whatever your policy is for no call, no show.

marc · January 2004

This isn't exactly a no-call, no-show situation as the EE did make the initial call. Some policies require a phone call every day, some do not and some are silent. Each of these variations on the policy would dictate which way you go. As nearly everyone else has said, what did the supervisor say. If he/she granted the leave or in some way made the EE think the leave was granted, you may be stuck with riding it out. If so, the supervisor (and perhaps others) needs a refresher on your policies, or needs to be disciplined if he/she thoroughly understood your policy and did not follow it.

In the meantime, if you find that the supervisor gave the EE the understanding that the leave was granted and should not have been, use your emergency contact numbers to try and get the message to the EE that she should call in and straighten out the situation.

That means you need to decide how you are going to handle it. Get your ducks lined up all in a row before you contact the EE.

Crout · January 2004

In these kinds of situations I think it's best to be a bit more than resonable. I'm not sure how this can be called "No-Call" when by your own admission she called her supervisor. If you have a leave request policy, did she follow it? Do you normally enforce the leave request policy for ALL employees? I would give her the two weeks, then if she still hasn't called I would send her a letter by registered mail indicating that if you don't hear from her by (pick a date at least three days in advance) you'll be forced to terminate her employment.

Job Abandonment?

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